but she likes them feisty, lass. I want a partner, not a lapdog.”
Cain’s tall, nude body pressed against her back felt solid and wonderful, and Emma turned and pressed her cheek to Cain’s shoulder.
“No tears now, sweetling. They’ll ruin our morning.” Cain ran her fingers through the wet blond hair. After seeing the sadness on Emma’s face, she hadn’t been able to get very far once she’d walked out of the bedroom.
“What are you doing here?” Emma turned her head up and kissed Cain’s collarbone as she gazed up at her greatest wish.
“I live here, love. I’m the one you use as a foot warmer at night.” Cain ran her fingers down Emma’s neck, her lips following closely behind. She stopped just behind her ear and bit down gently, loving how it made Emma shiver.
“I know that, you sweet idiot. What I meant was, I thought you had a meeting?”
“I had a choice of bribing some old fat white guys into cutting us in on some gambling action, or bribing you into spending the day with me. It wasn’t a close contest so here I am. I want to spend hours showing you how much I love you and just how beautiful I think you are.”
“Do you have any idea how much I love you?” Emma put her hand behind Cain’s neck and pulled her down to claim a kiss. Any insecurities she had of Cain not finding her attractive disappeared when her partner’s tongue pushed gently against hers and Cain’s hands covered her backside, pulling her closer.
“How about we answer that question in the bedroom, Mrs. Casey?” asked Cain, when they pulled apart.
“That’s me, and I always will be.”
They had spent so many mornings like that, so many days when Emma had rushed down to Cain’s office so she could feel Hayden moving around. Had Hannah been so active? Had the picture of Emma feeding her been as sweet and beautiful? Cain could never live those stories again, and her own Mrs. Casey had stolen them from her.
“I’ve learned something about myself in the last month, Cain. In the end I couldn’t betray you just to regain my son. For the longest time I thought it was a fair trade. You got Hayden and I’d have Hannah, but it doesn’t work. We have two children, and each of them needs us for different reasons. I’d love nothing more than for you to forgive me, but if that doesn’t happen we need to learn to share them.”
“If you were in my shoes, Emma, would you forgive?”
Emma admitted to herself that when she had come back and wanted to see Hayden, Cain had granted access. It wasn’t Cain’s fault she had left and her son hated her for it, which was her own burden to carry. So she answered truthfully. “No.”
“Sweetling, that might be the first honest thing you’ve said to me in forever.”
The endearment and the rest of what she had to confess started her tears. “There’s more.” Through the hiccups and sobs, she got out the rest. Hayden was gone, Cain was shot, and it was all her fault.
“Who has him?”
“Giovanni Bracato.”
Cain forgot the pain for a moment and closed her hand into a fist. “That fat bastard’s going to wish he’d stayed a gleam in his father’s eye.”
“I’ve already met with him.” Emma leaned back in the chair and wiped her face. She didn’t think Cain would coldcock her, but she wasn’t taking any chances. The medication Cain was on could prove her wrong.
“You? I’m sure he found that highly amusing. What’d you do, ask him pretty please with sugar on top?”
Merrick’s arrival was enough to defuse Cain’s rampage and allay the nurses. “No, she had Mook knock out his front teeth and the rest of the boys kidnap all Bracato’s kids, including his grandson, Little Gino.”
Cain turned to Emma, who nodded in confirmation. “I wanted him ready to deal, and I thought his whole family would be worth Hayden.”
“Listen to me carefully, the both of you. If you get him killed, start running before his body hits the floor. Run like the devil himself is chasing you, because you’ll find you might prefer him to me.” Cain glared at both of them in turn, and her voice was pure menace. “Nothing fancy whenever this goes down. You get my son and leave. Understand?”
“Yes,” both Emma and Merrick answered.
“But, Cain,” Emma said.
“Get out.”
Cain was done, but neither of her visitors moved. She leveled a murderous glare at both of them, and her voice dropped to its chilliest register.
“Get the fuck out.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Shelby stirred her coffee, hoping two pink packets of sweetener and three creamers would make it taste better. “Why is it you hardly ever blip on the radar Cain’s constantly under, Muriel?”
“I’m around, Shelby, so you tell me.”
“Cain’s your only client?” Shelby watched as Muriel took a healthy swig from the Styrofoam cup and shivered.
“Is this a coffee date or an interrogation? If your answer’s ‘date,’ you must not do too much of it.”
“This is not a date.”
